It’s a good day to be a runner.
In the wake of hurricane Sandy, New York and it’s neighbors were left hungry, cold and some without homes. In the days following a horrible debate came to play, to go on with the NYC Marathon or to not. Bloomberg kept the show on until Friday, a mere 2 days from the race. Runners, not our Mayor, were being threatened and attacked by people who thought it a bad idea. Shame on them for attacking people who run to raise thousands of dollars to help others.
My personal opinion was that the race should have been cancelled Tuesday. I was not going to run it anyway.
Before continuing on to more positive things, I need to say this… if you were one of those people with an opinion, you better have been out there PHYSICALLY helping, otherwise you just added to the problem.
Runners, and especially the ones I am honored to call my friends, are noble and amazing people.
On the morning of the NYC Mary thousands of runners (wearing their orange race shirts) banded together and went to Staten Island, bringing much needed supplies and to help in any way they could. My friend Eissa organized our own event. At 9:30AM today a few dozen of us runners compiled loads of donated items to bring to Brooklyn and Staten Island.
At our donation drop off point I finally got to meet Ron, who is also coached by Sonja! Speaking of Sonja, her friend Gaye was there to join in! What a small world! The rest of the Runner Army was there in force too.
We packed Eissa’s car to the brim! It was so funny to see! Today she will drop off all of these goods to people in need affected by Sandy.
Next, we took off toward The Central Park for a loop. As we entered we were totally amazed at all the positive energy there! Thousands of runners, decked out in their marathon gear, were doing loops of the Park! There were people all over cheering with signs and cowbells, some handing out water. Every few miles there were groups with donation drop-off areas, collecting more goods to bring.
We made the best of it and really took it all in. It really made me happy and renewed my faith in humanity.
“I love this town!”